Jack Lefebvre

AUTUMN LEAF

That
first
moment
when the sap
stirred me into life,
pushed my tender tip from the bark,
I stretched into infinity and reached for the sun.
Greening and plumping, I danced with the breeze on the branch.
Then, everything was possible.
Life flowed from the earth
into me,
my veins,
my
hope.

Through
long
bright days
I breathed with
all my green sisters
to suck the dark contaminants
out of the tainted air. We shaded children playing,
dappled the grass and whispered dreams to strolling lovers.
We made blue sky believable.
I am essential.
Thanks to me
my tree
will
live.

But
now
the days
grow shorter.
Some of my sisters
have already found their freedom.
The empty skies echo the cries of arrowing geese,
pulled south relentlessly, their panic loud. I shiver.
What will the world do without me?
But I have no choice,
no children,
just one
last
fall.